"I'm so full of emotion and proud of myself and my squad and the Indigenous Marathon Project for getting me to this point," Leha told HuffPost Australia from New York, where he's recovering after the 42-kilometre slog.

"It's a special thing to do a marathon in your life and I'm so lucky to have been able to push through the struggle to be able to do that.

"After the 30-kilometre mark I really felt the pain in my muscles, the aches in my joints, and it was hot here, very different to what we've been training in."